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International Antitrust Law & Policy: Fordham Corporate Law 2003 - Hardcover
International Antitrust Law & Policy: Fordham Corporate Law 2003 - PDF
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Chapter 10
DG COMPETITION’S REVIEW OF THE
POLICY ON ABUSE OF DOMINANCE
Philip Lowe†
I. INTRODUCTION
I am very grateful to the organisers of this year’s conference for
having chosen the topic of abuse of dominance or “monopolisation” as
this area of antitrust is called in the United States.
This is first, because we see the prohibition of abuse of dominance in
Article 82 of the EC Treaty as a key element in our broader efforts to
liberalise and make the EU economy more open and competitive.
In recent years we have been quite successful in removing State
restrictions on competition in sectors such as telecommunications,
electricity and gas. Now we must make sure that the incumbent firms do
not replace their legal monopolies by de facto monopolies.
In recently liberalised sectors there are essentially two ways to
address the problems associated with market power: sector specific ex
ante regulation (for example on third party access to networks) or ex post
control of abusive conduct on the basis of Article 82 EC. We consider that
in such markets a combination of both tools is essential. A good example
in that regard is the new regulatory framework for electronic
communications, which entered into force on 25 July of this year.1
According to that framework only those electronic communications
markets on which antitrust law is not sufficient to remedy persistent
market failures should be made subject to ex ante regulation. For all other
markets ordinary competition rules should apply. The new framework
also introduces a strong enforcement mechanism: at the end of a two
phase procedure with tight time limits, the Commission may veto an
NRA’s decision to subject a given market to ex ante regulation. The new
regulatory framework has thus a built-in tendency towards deregulation.
This also means that the importance of the role of Article 82 EC in the
field of electronic communications is and will continue to be growing. Our
About the Editor:
Barry Hawk is Director of the Fordham Competition (formerly Corporate) Law Institute and Partner with Skadden Arps (New York and Brussels). He is former Vice Chair of the ABA Antitrust Section and former Chair of the New York State Bar Association Antitrust Section, as well as Professor at Fordham Law School and Visiting Professor at Michigan Law School, Monash University Law School, New York University Law School and the University of Paris.
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